


See the Blue

by Chelsea Frew (chelseafrew)



Category: Cinderella (2015)
Genre: F/M, Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-14
Updated: 2017-12-14
Packaged: 2019-02-14 14:33:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,866
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13009875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/chelseafrew/pseuds/Chelsea%20Frew
Summary: Wanting to share everything with Kit, Ella takes him back to her childhood home to enlighten him about all the joys of her time with her parents. With a past shared, they can move into the future together.





	See the Blue

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Spacecadet72](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Spacecadet72/gifts).



> I was so excited to see the 2015 version _Cinderella_ nominated for Yuletide. It is one of my very favourites. Imagine my joy to receive it as my assignment! I had such a good time writing it; I hope you get just as much enjoyment from reading it. My thanks to CL for the beta read and the encouragement to sign up to write. Final note: story title taken from the lyrics of the song "Strong" from the movie's end credits. Enjoy the story! Happy holidays!

The past week had been a whirlwind. She had done more things and met more people than she had the entire rest of her life. It had been amazing, but a breather would not be unwelcome before the next week began.

As she and Kit walked hand in hand up the road that led to the house that had been home for her whole life--up until now, that is--Ella felt herself relax.

When the house came into view, she could not contain her smile. The time spent there with her stepmother and stepsisters after her father had died did not matter. It was still her favourite place in the world.

"Tell me," Kit asked her, a smile on his own face.

She turned to look at him, just a little confused by his vague question. "Tell you what?"

"Tell me about your house. About your family." He held up a finger, indicating he wasn't quite done. "Not the family I met. The family I didn't get to meet."

Her confusion melted away. "My parents," she began. "It was just me, my mother, and my father. My mother was beautiful and kind, and my father was handsome and courageous. They loved each other very much, and they both loved me."

Kit's smile grew. "They sound amazing."

"They were," Ella assured him.

"How old were you when they passed away?" Kit inquired.

"My father died a little bit more than a year ago, when I was sixteen." The memory of the last time she'd watched her father head down the road toward work still tugged at her heart. If she had known it would be the last time, she would have begged and pleaded with him to stay until he acquiesced.

"And your mother?" Kit prodded, pulling her from a past she could not fix.

"I was ten years old when she fell ill," Ella reported.

"I was twelve when my mother died," Kit said. "Like your mother, she became ill."

"So, you know what it's like, to lose your mother before you're quite ready." As sad as she always was about having lost her beloved mother so young, it was comforting to talk to someone who'd been through the same experience.

"My mother may have been a queen," Kit's face softened as he caught one memory or another, "but she was more down to earth than you'd think."

"Oh?" Ella was excited by the prospect of learning something new about her Kit.

"My father was always preoccupied with running the kingdom. He spent his entire day with advisors making laws and tending to his people. He was a good father, but he had a great many things he needed to keep track of," Kit told her.

"Of course," Ella said, nodding sagely.

"My mother had duties as well," Kit continued. "But she always had time for me. She would get right down on the nursery floor to play with me, and as I got older, she and I would go riding together or go for long walks in the woods."

Ella smiled widely, imagining a smaller version of Kit walking through the forest with his mother.

"I would tell her all my wishes and dreams, and she would tell me they were going to come true," Kit said, smiling once again. "And as it turns out, she was right."

Feeling herself blush, Ella squeezed Kit's hand, acknowledging his compliment.

"My mother listened to all of my wishes and dreams, too," Ella stated. "She believed in magic, and she believed in me. She told me that there was power in being courageous and kind. And, as it turns out, she was right." She grinned at Kit as she borrowed his words, and he grinned right back at her.

They were standing right in front of the entry to the house by this time. Kit wondered, "So, do you want to show me your home?"

"I would love to." Ella reached for the front door handle and pulled Kit inside. 

Ella's stepmother had done a fair amount of decorating during her tenure as lady of the house, but that's not what Ella wanted Kit to notice.

First, they walked into the sitting room. "You've been here before, when I tried on the shoe," Ella pointed out. The walls had been redone in a garish fashion since it was her mother's house, but the furniture had not been changed.

"My father and I used to sit in here, and I would read to him," Ella recalled, her heart filling at the image of her father smiling as she finished a good book.

Kit smiled softly. "That sounds lovely."

"It really was." Ella walked him across the foyer into the lounge.

"When my mother got ill, she liked to lie in here," Ella told him. "I used to sit with her, and she would tell me stories, enough to last me a while after she left."

"What was your favourite?" Kit asked, running a finger across the back of the chaise which had been her mother's.

"I loved when she would tell me stories about all the animals who lived on our land. The ducks, the mice, the lizards. She made them magic."

"My mother loved to tell me stories, too," Kit revealed. "She would come into my room to tuck me in and she would tell me all kinds of stories about kings who slayed dragons and kings who ruled benevolently, beloved by all his people."

Ella grinned. "That's how you shall be."

"I certainly hope I can," he returned, smiling somewhat less confidently than her.

"I know you will," she insisted. She grabbed for his hand again. "Come with me."

Kit went willingly as Ella led him up the main staircase and bypassed the rooms on the second floor in favour of the winding stairs up to the attic.

"Where are we going?" Kit wanted to know.

She turned to look back at him. "My room."

When they got to the top, she threw the door open, then gestured for Kit to enter first.

"The attic was your room?" Kit turned in a circle to take it all in.

"It was." Ella moved to stand next to him.

"Why?" Kit sounded offended on her behalf.

"My stepsisters needed more space, so I offered them my room. My stepmother suggested I take the attic," Ella explained.

"How unkind!"

With a smile, Ella told him, "It was fine. No one could bother me up here, so I got lots of time to think and just be on my own."

"You are truly amazing," Kit commented admiringly.

As he walked into the centre of the room to get a better look, Kit stepped on a floorboard that squeaked under his weight.

"Oh!" Ella cried. "Let me show you!"

Kit stepped backwards in surprise, then watched with interest as Ella lifted the loose floorboard he'd just stepped on and pulled out a box. She urged him, then, to sit next to her on the lounge that had served as her bed.

Placing the box in her lap, Ella reverently said, "This is my box of treasures."

"Is that your mother?" Kit pointed to the portrait her fingertips were already brushing.

Ella picked up the frame and smiled wistfully. "Yes."

"She was beautiful."

"She was. Inside and out," Ella added.

"You take after her in every way, then," Kit noted, as charming as ever.

Blushing from his compliment, Ella carefully placed the portrait back in the box and picked up her greatest treasure.

"Un papillon." She carefully held up the delicate butterfly she'd kept safe for many years.

Kit gently traced the edge of one of the wings. "It's exquisite."

"Whenever my father would go away, he would bring me back something. He brought this back the year I turned ten, not long before my mother grew ill." Ella remembered the day like it was yesterday. The sun had shone bright in a clear blue sky, and she had danced with her father. "Up until then, my life had been perfect."

"Then it wasn't," Kit concluded most reasonably. He was now more than aware of what her life had been like before he'd met her in the woods not very long ago.

"Not quite as much," Ella conceded. "But now…now I think it might be close to perfect once again."

Kit leaned in for a quick peck on her lips, then he swivelled his head to look around the room once more. "I can't imagine how you lived up here."

Ella shrugged. "It wasn't all that bad. Sometimes a little cold. Otherwise, I could count on my stepmother and stepsisters not to come up here very much. Too many stairs. Except for when…. Never mind."

Kit wasn't going to let her get away with that. "Never mind what?"

It took Ella a moment to convince herself she wanted to share. "Just before you came here with the glass slipper I lost at your ball, my stepmother found the other one where I'd hidden it," she recounted. Though she had forgiven her stepmother all she had done, the pain of how close she had come to not being reunited with Kit was still fresh. "It was right here in this box." She covered the open box with her hand, then she pointed to the centre of the room. "She broke it on the floor over there."

"She didn't want you to be with me." It was a statement, not a question.

"She didn't," Ella confirmed. "But you and your guard saw through her."

Kit reached for her hand, squeezing it tightly. "And now we're together."

"And now we're together." She squeezed his hand back.

"Why don't you gather whatever you'd like to bring back to the palace right now, and we can get back in time for tea?" Kit suggested.

Ella nodded and began to stand. She paused to sit back down, though, as a troubling thought occurred to her. "I don't have to give up the house, do I?"

"Absolutely not," Kit hurried to assure her. "It's yours, isn't it?"

"I think that was Father's intention," Ella answered. "He always said my mother was the heart of the house, and it was my job to cherish it."

"Then cherish it you shall," Kit said. He quickly made a correction. "We shall."

Ella smiled at his assertion. "Then all I shall need right now is my box." She covered it with the lid and stood.

Kit followed suit, following her down all the stairs to the front door. As Ella secured the door behind them, Kit told her, "Thank you so much for showing me your home and sharing your stories about it. I can feel all the happy memories surrounding us."

"It was my pleasure. Thanks for coming with me."

"I hope we'll create some new happy memories in the new home we make together," Kit went on.

"I'm counting on it," Ella returned, grinning. After all they had gone through to get here, they deserved it.

Kit reached for her hand once again, and she gladly gave it over. "Let's get started, then."

"I'm absolutely ready."

End (22 November 2017)


End file.
